


Lex: The Panda Adventure

by celli



Series: Babysitting'verse [10]
Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, Future Fic, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-10-09
Updated: 2003-10-09
Packaged: 2017-10-07 06:44:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celli/pseuds/celli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lex falls in love. With a panda. Oh, all of you, stop snickering!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lex: The Panda Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Caro for the betaing and half the cute lines.
> 
> For [speshope](http://www.livejournal.com/users/speshope/)\--happy birthday! There was supposed to be smut, but the cuteness was just too much. Sorry. *g*

"Lex." Clark's voice was very patient. "You know we can't keep her."

"I didn't say I wanted to keep her."

"Yes, but you won't let go." Clark leaned over and--gently--attempted to pry the panda from Lex's hands.

"Hey!" Lex aimed a glare at him that made heat vision look like a mild breeze.

"The zoo people are here. There are camera crews and everything. Do you want the television-watching people of China to see you refusing to let go of a bear you've already promised to donate?"

"Well, I hadn't met her then. She didn't have a name then."

"She doesn't have a name now."

Lex looked horrified. "They won't keep her name? Hope named her!"

"BooBear isn't exactly a Chinese name." That was why Clark's voice sounded so familiar. It was the voice he used when explaining to Hope why she couldn't have another cookie. "What's Chinese for 'hope'? Maybe they can use that."

"I don't believe it. My company designed the genetic engineering program that saved the pandas from extinction, and what do I get in return?"

"Billions of dollars?"

"I have to give the panda back, and they won't even keep the name my _daughter_ gave her."

"It's a travesty." Clark's mouth was twitching.

Lex scratched Boo--er, the panda--behind the ears. "Spes is Latin for Hope."

"I said Chinese. Not Latin."

"Esperance?"

"French, as you well know." Clark turned Lex bodily so they were facing each other, an armful of panda wriggling between them. "What's this really about?"

"It's not about anything. I'm tired, I've been doing business in foreign languages for three days straight, and our little girl is crying in a hotel room because I wouldn't let her keep...this. I deserve a bad mood, all right?"

"I see."

"I _wish_ you wouldn't say that. I always feel like a particularly recalcitrant science experiment you've just figured out."

"You're the scientist in the family."

"That's not--fine." Lex sighed. "I'm just tired. And she was _crying._"

"She's still going to love you if you don't give her a panda." Clark petted the panda absently as he leaned his forehead against Lex's. "You're not a bad father because you said no."

"Do you think I'm overreacting?" Lex asked.

"Yes," Clark said. "But I love you for it. You don't have to try so hard, you know? Hope doesn't need the world on a platter. She just needs you and me."

Lex sighed. "You really are an incurable romantic."

"I know." Clark kissed him briefly over--or possibly through--the panda. "I learned from the best. Come on, let's give the panda back. Then we can get Hope the life-sized stuffed panda I saw in the gift shop."

"I thought she just needed you and me."

"And a really big guilt-relieving stuffed animal. She can name it BooBear. Which is a silly name for a--"

"--who has a cat named Tuna?"


End file.
